The Battle of the Inner Colonies
by Spartaness
Summary: The Human/Covenant War has left the the Outer Colonies ravaged, now the UNSC soldiers must fight against the Covenant for the Inner Colonies, the centre of human civiliation
1. Chapter 1: Battle for Alpha Centauri

_**Battle of the Inner Colonies**_

_**Alpha Centauri II**_

The battle of Alpha Centauri II raged on around me as I scrambled for the cover of a nearby boulder. Plumes of searing hot plasma streaked through the air around me, whistling past my ears. Slipping and sliding, I took a wild dive and landed safe in its shielding. I pressed my body against the rocky surface and listened to the pot-shots chip away at my refuge and slowly the shots of plasma lessened and finally died out completely.

Slowing my labored breaths, I checked my weapons, a standard S2-AM Sniper Rifle and the close to useless M6C Magnum Sidearm, both low on ammo, Damn it. I silently grabbed the rifle, and angling it to my shoulder I turned back to the Covenant, a collective group of alien of all walks of life, all bent on destroying my race, the Human Race. I pressed my eye into the scope and squeezed the trigger. A nearby grunt dropped like a stone as the bullet punctured the squat alien's methane tank, sending it up in blue flames, killing most of it's squad as the plasma grenades on his belt detonated. A small smile crept on my face, payback I thought to my self. I sniped the remaining members of the Grunt's squad; I finally heard the dreaded clack of the rifle's empty firing bolt. I collapsed behind my boulder and looked up into space and saw to my dismay more orange flashes lit they sky. In space, where the battle mattered, we were losing again…

Breaking me from my thoughts, in the distance I could hear the steady whir of a Pelican dropship's engine. I looked round my shelter to see the familiar dark green paint of the dropship's hull. With that confirmation, I made a mad dash for the Pelican. I didn't see the Covenant coming, and I felt that mistake as their weapons burned down into my spine. I fell to the ground and watched, immobilized in the dirt, the Pelican take off. And as I lay there on the battlefield, feeling the life slowly leave me, and with my last life energy I closed my eyes for a moment and asked myself "Why did this have to happen to me?"

***End of Chapter***


	2. Chapter 2: After Glassing

_**Battle of the Inner Colonies**_

_**After Glassing…**_

Silence... Pain... Suffering... Burning trees... Smoking rivers... Darkening skies...

I open my eyes, I must have passed out… I'm too weak to stand… Too strong to die… I lie there on the ground… Half-dead… Waiting to die… I think to myself… They must have glassed the planet… The Covenant… I try to move… Can't… My spine must have been burnt… I open my eyes to see destruction all around…

Silence... Pain... Suffering... Burning trees... Smoking rivers... Darkening skies...

I close my eyes again… Nothing to see… No point wasting energy… I think to myself again… Listening to the deafening silence… I begin to contemplate my death… What to do?… I can't move, I can't suicide… I'm just lying here… In the dirt… What's this?… I hear footsteps… I listen to this sound of hope… Covenant or Human? I'm not too picky… I open my eyes… I see a figure… Too far to really see clearly… It's getting smaller… Wait! No! No! NO!… Please don't leave me here!… I found my voice… It's still there… Scream! Scream! Scream!.. A harsh gurgle escapes my throat… Again! Again!… A strangled cry this time… It's hard to see now… This is my last chance… Scream! Cry! Make a sound!… Let me be heard!… This time it works… A massive energy-draining scream of desperation wracks my broken body… It's moving, getting bigger by the second… Again! Again!… Stronger and stronger my voice and soul grows… It's jogging now… Towards me lying on the ground… I still can't see… No! No!… I'm passing out… My vision's darkening… I see the figure clearly for a second… A human… A corpsman… With a Med-kit… I'm saved… I'm saved…

*****

A Corpsman, sent to wander the burnt plains of Alpha Centauri II to look for human survivors. 'Ha! Like there'd be any after a Glassing' the corpsman thought to himself. Five more minutes and he'd be off this baron wasteland. Muttering to himself, the Corpsman continued to roam about the charred remains of bodies, nudging bodies lightly with his boot every now and again, looking for movement. In the near distance, he could see the silhouetted outline of the Pelican coming through the atmosphere. Picking up pace, the Corpsman strolled towards the Pick-up zone. Then the silence disappeared, a near-unaudioable scream rocked the plains. Spinning on his heels, the frightened Corpsman looked about warily, then another strangled humanoid scream brought the Corpsman to a jog, looking around desperately. A flash of light catches a pair of eyes. He can see the marine now, covered by burned Covenant bodies, shielding and trapping this solider. Grabbing a Med-Kit from his duffel bag, the Corpsman shoves the bodies aside with brutal force, diving towards the survivor. Check the pulse, faint but strong. He'd make it. The wound on his back is bad, the Corpsman grabs a can of Biofoam from the kit, filling the wound with the noxious stuff. He will need surgery, but the surgeons could make miracles. Propping the victim up, the Corpsman finds a flare in his bag. Lighting it, the Corpsman signals to the Pelican pilot, and calls in over the Radio.

'Delta-561 here! What's your position?' the pilot's cheerful voice crackles in.

'I'm 500 meters northeast of the Pick-up Zone, I'm signaling with a red flare. I've got a wounded survivor here, pretty bad but he'll make it'

'Roger that! I see you! I'm bringing her down."


End file.
